Battens for European Regatta Sails

I just got new H-16 Hibiscus sails from the recent European Regatta offering made to US Hobie sailors. These sails have velcro batten closure straps with the mating half of the velcro inside the batten pocket. Do the sails require special battens and can someone help me with the proper tensioning procedure? My old jib sail has break-away battens and the hinge section is too large to fit in the new sail's batten pockets so I need to get new jib battens at least. Has anyone had experience with the Super Flex fiberglass battens? I understand they are not class legal, but I don't do any clas racing, so no issue there.

Thanks for the help!

Vela Veloce (Sail Fast)

There is some info on this in the euro sail forum that is posted here. It's just some where in all the 8 pages of that forum. We had the same problem with having the batten hinge not fitting. Plus we did t want to rip our new sail where the hing bends. So What we did was move our battens up one and buy a new one for the bottom on eBay. We then cut all the rest to fit in there new pocket. Thus removing the hing. Good luck...

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Redlands California
2005 Hobie 16 with 2010 euro national sails.
1981 Hobie 16 cat fever

I put super battens in mine for now. Trimmed to be just shy of sticking out. Have not sailed it yet...but they seem like they will be awesome.
As far as tensioning goes...you just use the little tool and run the velcro in and snug em up a bit leaving the string hang out.

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1980 H16

Thanks! That was smart thinking to move the battens up one and then buy only one new batten for the bottom. I'll take a look at the Euro Sail Forum as well. Regards!

Thanks! Did you get a tool with your sail? I didn't, but my wife has a sewing tool which looks perfect for the job. She's even gonna let me use it!
Regards.

Yes I did. Its nothing special. Just a flat piece of ?plastic? that lets you slide the Velcro in without it sticking.

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1980 H16

Thanks! I got new battens and made the tool. Put everything together today and ready for maiden voyage with new sails and tramp tomorrow. Hoping for decent wind!